Motorists have been urged to plan ahead as an eight-mile section of East Hampshire’s busiest road will be closed this weekend.

National Highways have confirmed the southbound A3 will be closed between Petersfield and Horndean from 9pm this Friday for essential resurfacing work.

The road will be closed between the A272 junction and Junction 2 of the A3(M) and will not reopen until 6am on Monday.

Congestion in the Petersfield and Butser area is expected with motorists being encouraged to plan their journeys in advance and allow extra time for travel.

Although the official diversion – which will be clearly signed – for traffic heading from Petersfield to Horndean is via the A272, A32, M27 and A3(M), extra traffic through the Meons, Clanfield, Buriton and Harting is likely.

An identical second closure is scheduled to take place a fortnight later from Friday, October 25, but project manager, Joe Cairns, believes it’s better to have two weekend closures rather than draw out the work for nearly two months.

He said: “We understand the impact this may have on local communities but we plan our work carefully to try and minimise disruption, that's why we are carrying this work out over two weekends when traffic is at its lightest.

"There will be an impact and a degree of disruption which we apologise for, but the alternative would be to have this work taking place intermittently over six or seven-week period which would require numerous closures and significantly more disruption and hassle for local people.”